Finalists for Lendwithcare Grassroots Entrepreneur Awards announced!

Public voting has closed for the 2014 Lendwithcare Grassroots Entrepreneur Awards and the ten most popular entrepreneurs, featured below, have been passed to our expert judging panel to pick an overall winner.

The standard of entrants has been extremely high. Every one of the 33 nominees is inspiring and has demonstrated an incredible level of enterprise and entrepreneurialism, often in the most challenging circumstances. The Lendwithcare Grassroots Awards recognises the most innovative and determined small businesspeople in poor communities in the developing world. The Awards celebrate creativity, enterprise and innovation, and prioritises social values and poverty alleviation.

It’s now down to our able panel of high profile names from across the business world to come to a final decision. Alastair Stewart, Deborah Meaden, Levi Roots, Nick Hewer, Richard Reed, Sir Stuart Rose, have a difficult decision on their hands! 

 Leonida Bironga Makori

 

Leonida, from Kenya, is a 32 year old entrepreneur. She has been involved in the franchise business for CARE’s Group Savings and Loan (GS&L) project. So far, Leonida has trained over 50,000 individuals on CARE Kenya’s GS&L project. She also supplies carbon-free cook stoves and micro solar lamps to GS&L members on credit, which has improved the individuals’ lives as they have been able to pay for these appliances in installments. She has distributed over 644 carbon-free cook stoves and 636 micro solar lamps to her community through the GS&L programme. Through her work with the GS&L programme, she has employed 30 community-based trainers, whom she pays from her own income, creating long-lasting community change.

La Morm

La Morm, from Cambodia, is a seamstress with a difference. She is incredibly committed to investing in her community and decided to take out a small loan to purchase sewing machines to train local apprentices. Apprentices pay $12 to be trained by La Morm over two months and once they have completed their training can take the machines home to start their own businesses. The machines cost £150 each and apprentices take on this loan if they choose to take the sewing machines home. This entrepreneurial education education has transformed her community forever.


Bora Mau

Bora, from Cambodia, is a truly dynamic entrepreneur. She used a small loan to invest in both her husband’s welding business and her fish and chicken farms, increasing her profit margins to between 20-30%. Bora Mau believes education is crucial in the fight against poverty, and in addition to investing in her businesses, the entrepreneur set-up a school where she teaches over 100 local children in the morning and evenings.

 Anwar Bibi

Anwar, from Pakistan, is an embroiderer. She went through critical illness and her son died in a fire accident, inducing heavy medical expenses. She started embroidering with her daughter, earning little. After a loan, she expanded to six employees, and now plans on sending her children back to school. She turned her fortunes around, even becoming an earning source for others. Anwar has proved that if you are determined, you can turn things around for the better. Apart from providing a better lifestyle to her family, she has also become a source of income for four families.


Bertha Nkhata

Bertha, from Malawi, runs a bicycle taxi business alongside her smallholding farm. This taxi business enables her to pay the school fees for her two children as well as buying a solar light to enable the family to be productive in the evenings and use basic kitchen equipment. Bertha also employs casual labourers for her farm, thus creating much needed local employment.
She is happy to know that she is a self-sufficient woman, giving her independence rather than having to always rely on her husband.


Teresa

Teresa, from Egypt, first took a loan of just £17 and purchased ducklings. She was able to repay the loan and earn some money. The whole family work in poultry and expanded their business with further small loans. She encouraged her friends and neighbors to form Village Savings and Loans groups and she trained them on how to raise ducks. Moreover, her group members elected her to be the chairwoman. Being the group chairwoman affected Theresa’s character, and the leadership and decision making skills she has  learned have changed her community.


Appoline Ahossi 

Appoline, from Benin, produces cassava flour and tapioca. She only employs young women and girls, paying them fairly and allowing weekends off, as she believes in women’s potential to be an economic driving force in Benin. She has employed up to ten women simultaneously. Aware of environment protection, Appoline uses clean, fuel-efficient stoves in her production.



 

Elisabeth Houessou

Elisabeth, from Benin, is an example of achievement and innovation in her village. She has overcome a variety of problems related to her production and has managed to become a quality producer of gari (cassava flour), also innovating and developing new products like a snack from coconut milk and sugar. Also, Elisabeth employs staff permanently, always recruiting women in difficulties showing solidarity with other women and a desire to help her community. Finally Elisabeth has been training women in the production of quality gari for 10 years, passing on her knowledge to other people.


Amake Albiro Ogoudele

Amake, from Benin, produces cassava flour, employing eight full-time staff, and exporting her produce across the Nigerian border. During the busy December month, she hires more staff. Aware of environment protection, Amake uses fuel-efficient stoves to reduce firewood consumption, and participates in reforestation campaigns. She is a role model for her community.




Victorine Fianyo

Victorine, from Togo, is a fantastic example of how microfinance can give people living in poverty the opportunity to transform their lives. 18 years ago, she accessed her first loan of just £25 to buy basic ingredients for her ‘Kom’ (a corn meal very popular in parts of West Africa) stall which she set-up outside her home. Today she produces Kom wholesale, has built her own shop where she sells a diverse range of goods, employs seven people, and can afford to send all her children to school. Indeed, much to the entrepreneur’s great pride, her fourth daughter has just gone to Germany to complete higher education – something quite rare indeed.

Have your chance to invest in next year's Grassroots Entrepreneur of the Year and visit www.lendwithcare.org today!

Lendwithcare microloans making big differences in Togo, West Africa

A couple of weeks ago, Ajaz (Lendwithcare's Microfinance Advisor) and I headed out to Togo and Benin in West Africa to conduct the annual evaluation of our microfinance partners. Whilst there we also met some of the entrepreneurs receiving Lendwithcare loans.

 - Nancy Thomas, Lendwithcare Executive

 

If you follow the debate on the impact of microfinance, you will be aware that one of the criticisms often put to microfinance practitioners is that microcredit only serves to support subsistence and/or unscaleable businesses. However the following two entrepreneurs I met on our recent visit to Togo showed me quite the contrary.

Meet Philippe Adanglo ...

Philippe in his workshop 

When we visited Philippe’s shop/training school on a hot and dusty day in February, it was an absolute hive of activity. In the main portion of his workshop, 15 young apprentices sat busily working away on clothes orders. Philippe currently owns six manual sewing machines (one of which he bought with a small loan funded by Lendwithcare lenders) so those who were not operating the sewing machines, assisted by tacking and preparing the material for sewing. At the side of his workshop, in an extended area, we were introduced to another 15 apprentices who were gluing, ironing and putting finishing touches to various items. 

Philippe welcomed us in with a big smile and open arms. We did not realise from his modest loan request quite how impressive his business actually was. He set-up his own tailoring business with three helpers about 14 years ago after learning the trade from his uncle and receiving a diploma as an apprentice. He now, with the help of 35 local apprentices, makes 100s of uniforms for schools and companies as well as the occasional bespoke item. And all of this on manual sewing machines! Philippe told us that he and his staff meet their current demand comfortably and he is planning on expanding operations in the near future. In fact, in the shorter term Philippe has plans to open a haberdashery next to his workshop so he can sell cloth and accessories alongside his tailoring services. 

Apart from building a successful business, what really impressed us about Philippe was the opportunity his business now provided for numerous young people from the local area through his apprenticeship programme. In total he has trained 80 people in the trade, all of whom received a diploma and graduation ceremony once they completed their apprenticeship and most of whom have gone on to set-up their own businesses. Philippe trains all of the apprentices himself and is helped by his more experienced apprentices as new people join. Philippe has now taken out a second small loan to buy more material in bulk so they can meet the growing demand of their customers and get a better price by buying in bulk.

Philippe & apprentices

And Akuwa Keke ...

Akuwa and I (Nancy)

We met Akuwa the day after we visited Philippe's tailoring shop and were very impressed by her obvious entrepreneurial skill and spirit. After her husband died ten years ago Akuwa knew she needed to find a way to adequately meet the needs of her two daughters so she started to consider different income-generating activities. She used to sell porridge from a stall on the street but this did not provide her with a sufficient or stable income so, with encouragement from her sister, Akuwa slowly started to expand and diversify her trade. She now buys a variety of goods from the port and grand market in Lome (the Togolese capital) in bulk and then sells them at retail to people in the local vicinity. These goods range from colourful cloth and children’s toys to furniture and pianos. Akuwa visits the port and sees what is being imported and which items she thinks will sell well in the area where she lives and buys these items in bulk. Akuwa told us the goods she sells come from all over the world, particularly China. 

And Akuwa's business ideas do not stop there. In addition to selling these goods, Akuwa also grinds corn to make a type of powder popularly used to make soup. She exports large bags of this corn powder via middlemen at the port to Europe and other parts of the world. Akuwa hires three people to help her with this activity since it can be a laborious task preparing the corn into the powder. The list of activities Akuwa is engaged in is extensive and before we were about to leave she also wanted us to try some of the frozen yoghurt she makes and sells on the street to passersby. She sells these for 2 cents a bag and they are delicious!

Ladies grinding corn at Akuwa's home

 
It was an absolute delight to meet both Philippe and Akuwa (and the 13 other lendwithcare entrepreneurs who welcomed us into their homes and their businesses) during our trip and although I am not suggesting these two examples represent all recipients of microcredit, I do think it extremely important we avoid viewing microcredit and all its recipients homogeneously. 

To learn more about lendwithcare entrepreneurs visit our website www.lendwithcare.org or follow us on Twitter or Facebook for latest news and discussion.